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Saturday, February 23, 2008

As some of you know, I have been undergoing certain health issues
lately, and while I am optimistic that all will be fine, I will have to
undergo surgery this next week. The kind of major surgery I am having
requires me to be admitted to the hospital and once released, full rest
and recuperation is a must.

Because of this, I will likely not be online for some time. If anyone
wants to contact me, that information is on my contact page on my
website.

If possible, I’ll try to have someone check my email for me so I don’t miss anything urgent or time sensitive.

The one good thing about this enforced period of rest is that I might
actually catch up on my reading and whittle down that huge TBR pile I
have. LOL

I want to thank everyone who has sent e-cards and offered prayers and well wishes. They are much appreciated.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

My mind spins faster than a top. Sometimes I imagine I can hear
the whirling sound of it’s motion in the air. LOL. Must be true of all
writers, because I think each of us are born with that inquisitive
gene. You know, the one that makes you ask what if.

Stories are born from those what ifs. You can be in line at
the bank, the grocery, the movie theater, or in a coffee shop, and see
something that suddenly begs for attention and leads our minds in a
“Walter Mitty” direction.

The other day, I was at the post office. The line was practically out
the door. And this really sweet guy held it for me and even offered to
hold my packages. Pretty tame stuff. But it hit me. What if it wasn’t a
nice gesture on his part? What if instead of standing there and chatting
with me, he’d taken my packages and then ran off with them? What if he
was a package snatcher?

Well, if he had, then my latest prize winner wouldn’t eventually get
the book I sent. LOL. It’s cool, Kelley, your package got in the mail.
:D

But still, it causes you to realize that everything we do in life has
an effect, like dominoes. Chain reaction of cause and effect.

When we sit down to plot a skeletal framework for our stories, we
have to play by the same rules as life. No matter if our novel is set
100 years into the future, or on another planet, or a contemporary set
in the here and now. We all have to think about cause and effect.

If your heroine drinks four margaritas and follows it with three Long
Island ice teas, odds are she’s going to be pretty wasted. At the
least, she should wake up in the morning with a doozy of a hangover. And
that will have an effect on the rest of her day. Side note: If she
doesn’t have a hangover after all that booze, then I’m going to hate
her. So not fair! LOL.

What I don’t like as a reader is when a book doesn’t follow it’s own
rules, or tries to circumvent cause and effect. Or maybe I just agree
with the bad guy in the Matrix movie. I dunno.
But I figure I’ll never stop asking what if. It’s too much fun! :D